Ecuador protesters break into Congress amid fuel hike anger

Demonstrators outside the national assembly in Quito during clashes with riot police

Quito (AFP) - Ecuadoran protesters broke into the country’s Congress building on Monday as demonstrations over a fuel hike introduced by President Lenin Moreno’s government intensified.

Demonstrators, many of them indigenous men armed with sticks and whips, succeeded in breaking through a security cordon around the Congress building, according to video broadcast on the Ecuavisa channel.

The demonstrators rushed into the meeting room and occupied the podium, but were evicted minutes later by security forces.

Moreno subsequently ordered an overnight curfew to protect public buildings.

Clashes between security forces and protesters at Congress erupted as thousands of demonstrators converged on the capital Quito to protest soaring fuel prices at a planned demonstration on Wednesday with transport and student unions.

Angry demonstrators shouted slogans outside the national assembly in Quito during clashes with security forces

Demonstrators made a previous attempt to storm the building on Monday. Moreno, who declared a state of emergency over the nationwide protests last Thursday, has moved government headquarters to the coastal city of Guayaquil.

A week of protests against the fuel price hike has slashed the South American country’s oil output by a third.

Oil production fell 31 percent after the seizure of three oil facilities in the Amazon, the energy ministry said Tuesday.

Production losses at the state-owned Petroamazonas “will reach 165,000 barrels per day,” the ministry said in a statement. Ecuador, which exited the OPEC international oil cartel last week citing economic constraints, normally produces 531,000 barrels per day.

Days of protests have followed a sharp rise in fuel prices sparked by a government decision to scrap subsidies

Moreno’s declaration of a state of emergency failed to deter the advance of indigenous protesters who have repeatedly clashed with security forces on their journey to the capital from the far reaches of the country.

Moreno on Tuesday tried to head off Wednesday’s planned protest by offering to hold talks with “the indigenous brothers.”

He added that income from the elimination of fuel subsidies would be spent “on the poorest.”

Security forces rush to erect a metal fence during clashes with demonstrators near the Congress building in Quito

Addressing the nation on Monday as the scale of the crisis became clear, Moreno had accused his predecessor and ex-ally Rafael Correa along with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of an “attempted coup d’etat.”

They were using “indigenous groups, taking advantage of their mobilization to plunder and destroy,” he charged.

Moreno’s accusation drew support Tuesday from seven Latin American countries, rejecting “any action” by Maduro and his allies to “destabilize” Ecuador.

Demonstrators burn branches and tires outside the Congress building in Quito during clashes with security forces

“The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and Paraguay, express their resounding rejection of any destabilizing attempt of legitimately constituted democratic regimes and express their strong support for the actions undertaken” by Moreno, according to a joint statement issued by the Colombian government.

All seven countries have right-wing governments that see Moreno’s moderate socialist administration as an important regional ally against Venezuela.

- Call for early election -

A protester lies on the ground as demonstrators are dispersed away from the Congress building by riot police

Correa meanwhile called for early elections, citing “serious social upheaval,” while denying Moreno’s accusations that he was fomenting a coup.

“There’s no coup here. Conflicts in democracy are resolved at the polls,” the Belgium-based Correa said in a video published on social media.

Correa, who was president of the Andean nation from 2007-17, is wanted in his homeland on suspicion of ordering the kidnapping of a political opponent while he was president.

Some 20,000 protesters were due to arrive in the capital by Wednesday, according to indigenous umbrella organization CONAIE.

Demonstrators are dispersed away from the Congress building by riot police using tear gas

Thousands had already reached the capital on Monday and camped in parks or occupied buildings.

The country has been rocked by days of demonstrations after increases of up to 120 percent in fuel prices came into force on October 3.

They have so far left one civilian dead and 77 people injured, the majority of them security forces, the government said. A total of 477 people have been detained.

Moreno scrapped fuel subsidies as part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to obtain loans despite Ecuador’s high public debt.

The subsidies were costing the government $1.3 billion a year.

The IMF agreement, signed in March, allowed Ecuador to borrow $4.2 billion.